Sous Vide Boneless & Skinless Chicken Breasts (My First Sous Vide)

[fuzzydaddy]

I sometimes fail at boneless / skinless chicken breasts by overcooking and drying them out. So with my Anova in hand I decided to sous vide some breasts knowing they would be juicy, then quickly sear them over coals using my Slow 'N Sear.

Here's what I did and some of the why. Let me know if you have any questions.

• I considered 140, 145 and 149 and chose 149 for texture closer to what we're used to, and to experience the resulting texture for the first time.
• 8 breasts with a total weight of about 12-1/2 lb.
• I gave them a light coating of vegetable oil then a sprinkle of Morton's kosher salt & Penzey's coarse grind pepper and granulated garlic.
• Breasts were put in gallon ziplock bags (3 in 1st bag, 3 in 2nd bag, 2 in 3rd bag) and put in the refrigerator.
• The Anova took about an hour to get the water up to temp.
• Sous vide for 2.5 hours.
• About 15 minutes before the the sous vide was finished I lit 1/2 chimney of Kingsford Blue Bag with a Weber cube. I found I only needed ~1/3 chimney.
• I removed the breasts from their bags and gave them another light coating of vegetable oil.
• Breasts were seared for about 1.5 to 2 minutes per side. I added a few hickory chips. Next time I'll flip and rotate them more for more even browning. Or maybe get a grill grate and sear on the backside.

These are very juicy and taste awesome. On my next go I'm trying a 140 sous vide. I also had a bite before the sear and it was quite tasty. A couple photos...

My setup (this was taken before I "un-clumped" the breasts. I got the air out of the bags by lowering them in the water and letting it displace the air, then sealing. I used binder clips to hold the bags in place. The bath water dropped 2 degrees when adding the cold chicken.


Breasts being seared:

[Jerod Broussard]

Why do I sense an avatar change?

[Jerod Broussard]

If I can show mine, ANYBODY can show theirs.

[boftx]

Hell, I show mine, not likely anyone will be worse.

[Danjohnston949]

Why Hell Boy's, My face has been up since I Joined the Pit! That is if I got the Right End In My Levis? I better
Check? From Fargo ND, Dan

[scottranda]

Looks great! I look forward to more posts with SV boneless skinless.

[fuzzydaddy]

Here's a cut of one of the breasts. It has already chilled in the refrigerator. You can see how clean and smooth the cut is on the left piece. I pulled the right piece apart some with my fingers and I would describe the meat texture as mostly flakey. We liked the texture. I'll be cooking more Monday or Tuesday and I'll probably cook them at 145 to see how the texture compares to these at 149.

[HouseHomey]

You are killing me

[Thunder77]

I like it! fuzzydaddy, this past week thermoworks.com had a great write-up on sous vide chicken breast.

[HouseHomey]

Oh man, (inset Eyore voice here) I think I'm in trouble Pooh. See, I love chicken. I'm not even going to look at the reviews, the "Joule", or even the cost of the things. I'm just not. My saving grace. I Love the crispy skin. I love fried chicken and I was thinking SV then fry so "No." I'm just going to enjoy the pictures. I also like the dark pieces with the ever so soft chew and the gentle brush of smoke with a little BBQ sauce for dipping. The 5 year old girl likes some sauce on it and quickly tossed on the fire to get sticky. If I find one more reason to cook chicken again my wife will kill me. The End

Btw awesome pics

[fuzzydaddy]

I like any part of the chicken and crispy skin too. My wife only likes boneless/skinless breasts so I need to make her happy. Here's the link to the ThermoWorks article that Thunder77 (thank-you) mentioned above.

[HouseHomey]

You do know I'm trying not to buy the SV, right? 😀

[freddh]

Thought that I'd weigh in with some of my thoughts. First this is a great site! In fact it's my go to site for all things BBQ. I enjoy the repartee of various thoughts that are being brought to table for discussion. What I find amusing is that too many thoughts are of the variety of "this is the only way" to do this. SV doesn't bother to do this well, etc. isn't learning part of the journey? When I first started 'queuing "on my own about 50 years ago, I was boiling my ribs before smoking. Why? Because that's the way I was taught and didn't know any better. Now on this journey I've learned and learned well and continue to learn. I look at it as a work in progress, as it certainly is. SV, SNS, SBC are all tools this can be used to improve your product. I've attached a pic that shows "fried" chicken first done SVd at 148 for 4 hours, then finished with 1tbl of Wagyu Beef Love from SRF in a pan in the oven set to 425. I cook for 15 minutes per side, drain on a rack and I will never go back to frying chicken the old way. You see, I've learned to make adjustments. In fact all of my "fried" foods are done this way. So for what this post may be worth, continue on your (our) journey-be well cook and grub like there's no tomorrow!! BTW. I still haven't figured out how to get the pics in the proper order.

[HouseHomey]

I'm doomed.

[mhalbrook]

I use Sous Vide for my pulled pork most of the time now. Been a year, so I gotta look up the numbers, but seems like I did 170 for something like 12 hrs, pull it out, pat it, rub it and throw it on the grill to get the bark and finish up. Comes out great so far, and lets us have good Pulled pork even on a work day. I just have the 15 year old fire up the grill, rub it and put it on the grill.

[fuzzydaddy]

Tonight I prepared the second package of boneless/skinless chicken breasts.

• Sous Vide at 145 for 2.5 hours.
• A light sear over the Slow 'N Sear on my 26" Weber kettle. Just under a 1/2 chimney of Kingsford - about a dozen new briquets; the rest were reused from yesterday's cook. A few hickory chips were added.

Juicy with a good texture, but not mushy. I've got to get a grill grate.

Searing



Served with bean salad over romaine lettuce.

[freddh]

Looks good! Now we're cooking' with grease!!

[Breadhead]

fuzzydaddy ... Nice! Yes you need GrillGrates for both chicken and fish now that you're a Sous Vider.😎👍

boftx will think you've gone over to the dark side.😡

[boftx]

There is BBQ, and there is not BBQ. I defy you to call cooking with water and then throwing the food over hot coals "BBQ" in any meaningful sense of the term.

[fuzzydaddy]

For these boneless/skinless chicken breasts we got the moistness, tenderness, kiss of smoke, and overall taste we like, so it works for us!

[Thunder77]

boftx, I would call it grilling, (maybe) but not BBQ

[Breadhead]

boftx ... BBQ and grilling are 2 completely different ways of cooking.

Cooking food to produce a very tasty finished product is the goal. Having the correct texture of a protein is every bit as necessary as the crust, the rub the sauce.

If you cook chicken or fish on your grill against mine that was sous vided first I'm willing to bet you that in a blind taste test the sous vide chicken & fish would win every time.😎

Now let's talk about Tri-Tip's done sous vide style and finished on the grill...😆

[boftx]

I promise you that my smoked Tri-Tip will come out on top, period. Besides the flavor and texture, there is the two to three hours of sitting around the pit drinking a favorite beverage, enjoying a good cigar and the company of friends and dogs that makes BBQ what it is.

[Breadhead]

I'm all in on the adult beverages, friend & family and something to smoke.😆 But I think my Chicken, fish and Tri-Tip would blow your mind.🤔

[martybartram]

I think boftx and Breadhead should star on an episode of Smoked and go head-to-head. How do we make that happen?

[chudzikb]

Alright, I have a question regarding the searing, I have read somewhere to turn over the grill grates to do the sear? Anything to that, or did I read that wrong? And Sir Breadhead, can not find tri tip roast in my area of the east coast. Went to a old school butcher and he just scratched his head.

[Breadhead]

chudzikb ... Your old school butcher ditched class on tri-tip day or something.🙄

Show him this chart and learn him up on tri-tips...

[chudzikb]

My friend did the asking, I did not. It is his butcher. This might help if I can get it to transfer to my phone.

[Thunder77]

Nice chart. Thanks!